Skylights have traditionally been used to provide additional illumination through standard roofing structures. Generally they were not intended, and thus not designed, to support the weight of one or more persons walking upon them.
Over the past several decades, nearly all new windows in residential and commercial buildings have more than one pane of glass and some type of thermally insulative structure or insulating glass unit (IGU). Typically they involve panes of glass separated by a thermal break spacer and sometimes involve evacuating the space in between or filling it with a noble gas such as argon or krypton. As these structures are typically not load bearing, the materials used to fabricate such structures are generally lightweight and can be produced off-site in a manufacturing facility. In particular, the spacer typically used consists of a tubular structure, made of thin metal, and often containing a desiccant material for absorbing moisture present in the air between the glass panels.
Modern trends in building design often desire making rooftop surfaces into useable and even public spaces. This goal has made “walkable” skylights part of more and more building designs.
Walkable skylights must be designed to support the additional loading potential of numerous people walking and standing upon them. Accordingly, typically several layers of thick glass are employed.
Unfortunately, multiple panels of thick heavy glass, and the weight of people walking thereupon, can be too much for the flimsy spacers currently available. It is inevitable that they will ultimately fail. Thus, because of the limitations in the glass spacers currently available, while architects desire the aesthetics and functionality of walkable skylight units, such aspirations must compete with the goal of creating an energy efficient building.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.